If you're looking for a book full of crafts and clear instructions on how to do them, this book is not it. However, if you want an amusing walk down memory lane, with a few crafts thrown in, then this book is it. I LOVE the old photos and ads - it was great fun to look at.

2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes

While I love the idea of making the pair all at once, I'm too in love with my dpns to give this a try. The directions seem clear enough, and the method simple enough, but I'd rather give double knitting a go.

The Palace of Illusions: A Novel (audio) by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Wordy, so many names to try to keep track of, but interesting enough.

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber

My first ever Thurber book. Quite amusing. Over my 6 year old's head, but not for long.

Have you read Battle Royale? Japanese book that some say was "cribbed" for Hunger Games... I haven't read it so I don't know. I thought HG was awesome & am thinking about getting the next one to read on an upcoming trip!

After that I started the Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho. He is usually one of my favourite writers but I don’t like this one as much as the Alchemist or Veronica Decides to Die. I can't tell if it is just because ever since I got into Urban Fantasy this the summer regular fiction just seems dull.

In the meantime books that I ordered ages ago from the library arrived: Queen Betsy Undead and Unwed as well as a book from Laurell Hamilton. I couldn’t get into either of them. I did not get past the first few chapters and went back again to yet another Charles De Lint Book: Widdershins.

Valentina and Julia inherit their aunt's apartment by Highgate Cemetery. The twin sisters get caught up in getting to know the eccentric tenants in the building - a scholar who is writing his thesis on the cemetery and a crossword-puzzle enthusiast who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. AND their flat is haunted by their aunt's ghost who is fascinated with them and tries to communicate with them in many creative ways.

I loved this. I did like The Time Traveler's Wife better, but this was a very fun ghost story that hit the spot. She is such a good storyteller. There is even a little ghost kitten! Read it! Before Halloween is over!

Valentina and Julia inherit their aunt's apartment by Highgate Cemetery. The twin sisters get caught up in getting to know the eccentric tenants in the building - a scholar who is writing his thesis on the cemetery and a crossword-puzzle enthusiast who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. AND their flat is haunted by their aunt's ghost who is fascinated with them and tries to communicate with them in many creative ways.

I loved this. I did like The Time Traveler's Wife better, but this was a very fun ghost story that hit the spot. She is such a good storyteller. There is even a little ghost kitten! Read it! Before Halloween is over!

I'm like 1,000,000,000,000th in line on hold for this at the library. (insert angry sigh)

"A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." - Tyrion Lannister

Valentina and Julia inherit their aunt's apartment by Highgate Cemetery. The twin sisters get caught up in getting to know the eccentric tenants in the building - a scholar who is writing his thesis on the cemetery and a crossword-puzzle enthusiast who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. AND their flat is haunted by their aunt's ghost who is fascinated with them and tries to communicate with them in many creative ways.

I loved this. I did like The Time Traveler's Wife better, but this was a very fun ghost story that hit the spot. She is such a good storyteller. There is even a little ghost kitten! Read it! Before Halloween is over!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewCrunchyDaddy

I'm like 1,000,000,000,000th in line on hold for this at the library. (insert angry sigh)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathe

I'm up to #6 in the list at my library . . . getting there slowly but surely.

I placed my hold on the 26th of september and I'm #46 -- there are 61 copies, though.... for some reason I feel nervous that I'm not going to like it... good to hear that you did.

I placed my hold on the 26th of september and I'm #46 -- there are 61 copies, though.... for some reason I feel nervous that I'm not going to like it... good to hear that you did.

My library ordered 20 copies and not very many people had it on hold so I got a brand new copy to read right away. I was also nervous I wasn't going to like it, but I did... I wouldn't envy any author who had to follow up TTW, though.

A multi-generational story of three generations of women, beginning with Lorna in the 1930s, who leaves behind her stifling upper middle-class London existence to marry artist Matt Faraday and move to a small, rough cottage in Somerset - until the Second World War intervenes in their idyllic existence. Lively then moves on to the lives of Lorna's daughter, Molly, and granddaughter, Ruth.

I really liked this one. Parts of it felt a bit slight, because it's only about 300 pages, yet mult-generational, but everyone's writing such massive tomes for no reason lately that I enjoyed Lively's economical approach to writing. It's not a flashy book, but I also enjoyed the themes she explores - is life a matter of negotiation, or of chance? Finally, it was nice to read something that's unabashedly romantic and intelligently written, about fundamentally nice, good people.

FYI, the dust cover and most reviews contain far too many spoilers. Boo!

#76 Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz
A reviewer on GoodReads put it, "This book sounded interesting to me: the memoir of a woman who discovers her husband has a secret life... after he drops dead on their kitchen floor. I wanted to learn about his secrets and kept turning the pages until Metz uncovered them for me. But after that, I didn't really feel like I cared enough about Metz to keep reading," and that's how I felt too.

#77 Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult by Jayanti Tamm
This was a bookclub book for me, and it was mildly enjoyable. I feel like the author merely skimmed the surface of her life, and it was hard to feel connected. And, as I was reading, I really wanted to know more about her mother's and father's decisions to stay with the cult.

this second novel by Perlman, an Australian writer, presents seven first-person narrators—whose lives are all nudged off course by a man's abduction of his ex-girlfriend's young son—in a compulsively readable tangle. At the center is a psychiatrist who treats several of the characters, and whose narrative provides some basis for assessing the partial perspectives of the six others. The abductor's self-justifying rants about truth, literature, and poststructuralist theory win over his shrink and, it seems, everyone else.

I kept getting intimidated by this book sitting in my TBR pile, because it's so long and looks so intimidating. It is long, but is still quite a readable book. The book follows seven narrators, all of whose lives are changed dramatically when a man abducts the son of his former girlfriend. Interesting to see the different perspectives and how things change depending on point of view.

An orphaned boy living with a crazy old soldier visits a fortuneteller and finds out the sister he thought was dead lives. To find her he must "follow the elephant." But who ever heard of an elephant in the dreary cold of Baltese. But then a magician, in an unprecedented feat of magic, conjures an elephant that comes crashing through the opera house roof.

This was a beautiful story--dark but hopeful, poetic but very readable. DeCamillo is such a great writer. I highly recommend this story --- it would be a great read aloud.

An orphaned boy living with a crazy old soldier visits a fortuneteller and finds out the sister he thought was dead lives. To find her he must "follow the elephant." But who ever heard of an elephant in the dreary cold of Baltese. But then a magician, in an unprecedented feat of magic, conjures an elephant that comes crashing through the opera house roof.

This was a beautiful story--dark but hopeful, poetic but very readable. DeCamillo is such a great writer. I highly recommend this story --- it would be a great read aloud.

An orphaned boy living with a crazy old soldier visits a fortuneteller and finds out the sister he thought was dead lives. To find her he must "follow the elephant." But who ever heard of an elephant in the dreary cold of Baltese. But then a magician, in an unprecedented feat of magic, conjures an elephant that comes crashing through the opera house roof.

This was a beautiful story--dark but hopeful, poetic but very readable. DeCamillo is such a great writer. I highly recommend this story --- it would be a great read aloud.

Valentina and Julia inherit their aunt's apartment by Highgate Cemetery. The twin sisters get caught up in getting to know the eccentric tenants in the building - a scholar who is writing his thesis on the cemetery and a crossword-puzzle enthusiast who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. AND their flat is haunted by their aunt's ghost who is fascinated with them and tries to communicate with them in many creative ways.

I loved this. I did like The Time Traveler's Wife better, but this was a very fun ghost story that hit the spot. She is such a good storyteller. There is even a little ghost kitten! Read it! Before Halloween is over!

Oh that looks like fun! I didn't even realize she had a new book!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewCrunchyDaddy

I'm like 1,000,000,000,000th in line on hold for this at the library. (insert angry sigh)

I can relate! : That's the problem with living in a well-read area. Lines for new books are ALWAYS huge in Seattle, I'm sure it's similar in Bellingham.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaliki_kila

My library ordered 20 copies and not very many people had it on hold so I got a brand new copy to read right away. I was also nervous I wasn't going to like it, but I did... I wouldn't envy any author who had to follow up TTW, though.

Yeah, no kidding! TTW was her first book right? I always think it must be hard to follow up a first novel that was a smashing success. Strangely, a lot of people in my book club did not like this book. Too science fiction-y or something. Can't remember exactly what they didn't like.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathe

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

An orphaned boy living with a crazy old soldier visits a fortuneteller and finds out the sister he thought was dead lives. To find her he must "follow the elephant." But who ever heard of an elephant in the dreary cold of Baltese. But then a magician, in an unprecedented feat of magic, conjures an elephant that comes crashing through the opera house roof.

This was a beautiful story--dark but hopeful, poetic but very readable. DeCamillo is such a great writer. I highly recommend this story --- it would be a great read aloud.

Oh that sounds cool! I loved her book Despereaux the mouse, at least what little I read to dd. She just turned 5 though, so had a hard time staying engaged, the writing was a tad advanced to keep her attention. I'll save these ones for later I guess

Just about done with Chocolat, which is lovely. And also have a few non-fiction books I need to flip through before returning them to the library. Fun fun.

I can relate! : That's the problem with living in a well-read area. Lines for new books are ALWAYS huge in Seattle, I'm sure it's similar in Bellingham.

Being familiar with the SPL, I can say that it is actually worse in Bellingham, because there are only +/-10 libraries to draw from across Whatcom County instead of the 30+ just in the city of Seattle, not to mention the King County Library System ... so, Seattle is actually a little better than Bellingham

Quote:

Originally Posted by fremontmama

Yeah, no kidding! TTW was her first book right? I always think it must be hard to follow up a first novel that was a smashing success.

That's probably why Harper Lee never tried it.

"A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." - Tyrion Lannister

The pieces illustrate several themes for which Poe was well known. For example, he felt that the death of a beautiful woman was the most poetical topic in the world. "The Raven," which made him famous, shows the incantatory or hypnotic quality of his rhythm, especially with Basil Rathbone's reading. Other horror tales included are "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Black Cat," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." The people in his novels often die and then mysteriously return to life, usually after they have been entombed. In "The Imp of the Perverse," Poe expounds on his theory of humanity that we often do something simply because we should not. The literary world is grateful for his unique vision.

I expected to like this more than I did. I thought many of the stories chosen were similar and then were read by the same reader, so I started getting tired of stories of people being buried alive. However, it's worth a listen if for nothing else than the reading of "The Bells."

We'll have to give it a try. My kids are 4 and 6, but we are reading "The Hundred Dresses" right now, which is a little challenging for them, but they are enjoying it and my 6 year old is especially getting a lot from it. Good old-fashioned anti-bullying book.

An orphaned boy living with a crazy old soldier visits a fortuneteller and finds out the sister he thought was dead lives. To find her he must "follow the elephant." But who ever heard of an elephant in the dreary cold of Baltese. But then a magician, in an unprecedented feat of magic, conjures an elephant that comes crashing through the opera house roof.

This was a beautiful story--dark but hopeful, poetic but very readable. DeCamillo is such a great writer. I highly recommend this story --- it would be a great read aloud.

Edgar Allen Poe Audio Collection
I expected to like this more than I did. I thought many of the stories chosen were similar and then were read by the same reader, so I started getting tired of stories of people being buried alive. However, it's worth a listen if for nothing else than the reading of "The Bells."

Being familiar with the SPL, I can say that it is actually worse in Bellingham, because there are only +/-10 libraries to draw from across Whatcom County instead of the 30+ just in the city of Seattle, not to mention the King County Library System ... so, Seattle is actually a little better than Bellingham

That's probably why Harper Lee never tried it.

I didn't think about that with Bellingham!

And yeah, no kidding on the Harper Lee thing. tough book to follow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jenifer76

Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

What can I say more than this: I love these books!

Can't wait to check these out!

Quote:

Originally Posted by friendtoall

We'll have to give it a try. My kids are 4 and 6, but we are reading "The Hundred Dresses" right now, which is a little challenging for them, but they are enjoying it and my 6 year old is especially getting a lot from it. Good old-fashioned anti-bullying book.

I put this on my list. Sounds good!

#73 Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Oh, I just love a good Joanne Harris book. I think we probably all know the synopsis of this one, since it's also a movie. Big thumbs up

#74 Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

Interesting, same viewpoint as the Real Food books. Some of it was a bit too radical for my tastes, but I like the idea of going back to pre-industrialized types of foods, whole fresh foods, not manufactured boxed fast foods. It makes sense. I might try and buy this book for the recipes.

I expected to like this more than I did. I thought many of the stories chosen were similar and then were read by the same reader, so I started getting tired of stories of people being buried alive. However, it's worth a listen if for nothing else than the reading of "The Bells."

I'll grant you that the stories are very similar (looking back on it) but still ... you gotta love a Poe collection read by Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price. That's gotta count for something!

"A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." - Tyrion Lannister

Dana Clarke has always longed for the stability of home and family—her own childhood was not an easy one. Now she has married a man she adores who is from a prominent New England family, and she is about to give birth to their first child. But what should be the happiest day of her life becomes the day her world falls apart. Her daughter is born beautiful and healthy, but no one can help noticing the African American traits in her appearance. Dana’s husband, to her great shock and dismay, begins to worry that people will think Dana has had an affair.

The only way to repair the damage done is for Dana to track down the father she never knew and to explore the possibility of African American lineage in his family history. Dana’s determination to discover the truth becomes a poignant journey back through her past and her husband’s heritage that unearths secrets rooted in prejudice and fear.

Fairly predictable right at the beginning. I felt like some issues were opened up (Dana's father) and not really explored as well as it could have been. Not a bad book but not the thought-provoking one it was touted as being.